Duchy

League

soccer

shock

Teams drop out

THE DUCHY Football League's Management Committee met on Wednesday to decide the future of its competitions in the view of the disruption caused by the foot and mouth crisis which came in the wake of a particularly wet winter.

Thirteen teams have found it necessary to withdraw from the league as they have no realistic chance of completing their matches but fixture secretary, Colin Atkins had managed to schedule all the remaining matches in May and so the committee agreed that the season should be completed.

It was stressed that the continued co-operation of the clubs would be required to finally bring the campaign to a close and the final fixtures must be adhered to. This will inevitably mean some teams will have to find alternative pitches for some matches or surrender home advantage.

LATEST LEAGUE TABLES – BACK PAGE

Region's workers rank

among the lowest paid

SOUTH West office workers are among the lowest paid in the entire country, and are getting poorer than ever compared with the rest in Britain, according to a regional league table of salaries.

The table has been published by Adecco Alfred Marks, the world's largest recruitment agency. Last year, South West office workers (including clerical, accounts and secretarial staff) had an average wage of £12,817, which was 6.5% below the then average wage of £13,708. The average salary in 2001 for the region's office workers is £12,946, which is l0.7% below a national average of £14,499.

Cornwall near top

of alien cat league

CORNWALL lies in the top three of the Alien Big Cat league table, claiming 52 of the 487 recently reported sightings, reveals the latest investigation by Fortean Times.

According to most reported sightings, across the country, description of alien big cats follows a similar pattern – a leopard-sized, black or dark brown cat, two to two and a half foot tall, with a body two to four foot long, and a tail. Clues leading to possible sightings include mutilated livestock, claw marks, large 'droppings', and large abnormal paw prints, spanning more than five inches wide. Scotland tops the league with 78 sightings, followed by Gloucester with 55.